


A Rescue

by hulklinging



Category: Power Pack, Runaways (Comics)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-05
Updated: 2014-10-05
Packaged: 2018-02-20 00:52:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2409122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hulklinging/pseuds/hulklinging
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Karolina has a new girlfriend.</p>
<p>Karolina's new girlfriend has a spaceship.</p>
<p>Julie is really too nice for her own good.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Rescue

There is a moon that orbits an old Majesdanian outpost planet. The planet was abandoned long ago, wrecked, practically inhospitable. The moon was never really livable in the first place, which suited its purpose. It was a jail, for prisoners of war, for the worst offenders. Those who were sentenced to it rarely left, and even after it had been left to languish, it was used as a threat and a setting for ghost stories in several alien race’s tongues.

Then, the Majesdanian survivors had found it. Purely by accident, really, as they searched for any other Majesdanians who might have survived the end of their world. And when they captured the girl they thought was Karolina Dean, traitor, destroyer of hope, they decided to put it to use.

Xavin knew she wasn’t the only one here, not anymore. The place smelled like fear, a new, fresh smell. When she had first arrived, the place had been a graveyard. Skeletons still trapped in the cells they had been left in when the moon had been abandoned the first time. Her captors hadn’t even bothered to clean out her cell before they threw her in it and slammed the door shut.

Xavin had honestly been surprised when they’d given her food, a day later. She thought they would have left the place, leaving her to join her cellmate in death. But no, sounds crept down to her cell, as she tried to discreetly break out of her cell. It didn’t work, of course. No Majesdanian jail worthy of its name broke under the attention of one rusty super Skrull. Sounds of cleanup, new construction kept her up. Around her, cells slowly filled, although not all of them stayed full for long. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, the sound of a body being dragged away could be heard.

Sometimes a prisoner was taken out of their cell for questioning, but no one talked to Xavin. Sometimes she was fed regularly, and sometime she wasn’t. She slept as little as she could, because if she slipped up in her sleep and shifted back into her default form, it would have all been for nothing. They’d go back to earth, find her beloved, and then it would be all over.

That could not happen. That was unacceptable. Xavin was prepared to die wearing this face. She had been since she’d shifted into it.

She thought about her betrothed a lot, and her strange Earth family. She wondered if they were all still together, still alive. She had never seen stronger bonds than the ones those kids had, not on earth or anywhere else. Still, she worried. They were not good at staying out of trouble. And Chase had lost someone again. Old Lace’s loss was being felt by the whole team, but it would hit Chase the hardest.

She didn’t like where trains of thoughts like that led, though. Because what came next was ‘I wonder if they are missing me.’

Xavin’s deception would have been discovered quickly. Karolina, beautiful, beloved, she would mourn. Perhaps Molly would as well. But the others? Unlikely. She was not the easiest to get along with. They probably hardly noticed her absence. And Karolina, bright and breathtaking as she was, she would soon realize what Xavin’s leaving meant, what that freed up for her. She could have a real girlfriend, a real relationship, not one that she had been forced into by her dead parents. She wouldn’t miss Xavin for long.

That was a good thing, Xavin reminded herself. You saved her so she could live, so don’t begrudge her for living.

There was no way of telling time, in a dark cell on an unfamiliar moon, and Xavin didn’t particularly care for knowing how long she’d been there. Long enough for her to forget how her default skin had felt. Long enough to forget exactly what colour her lover’s eyes were. If she had a mirror, maybe she could check, but there was nothing but her long deceased roommate to stare at, and the skeleton reflected nothing. Memories swam. Xavin lost weeks, easily, aided by a guard’s fist from time to time. They still ignored her, for the most part, but new guards came now and then, and they always wanted a glance (or more) at the first prisoner. Xavin took the beatings like she took the rest of her confinement, with a weary acceptance.

It showed how dull Xavin’s senses had gotten, that she didn’t hear the disturbance until it was right outside of her cell. She had been dozing, a feverish kind of half doze that came on when they forgot her water for a day or two. Something struck the wall outside of her cell, and she awoke with a start. She peeked out of the barred hole that served as her only ‘window’ into the hall beyond, but it was too dark to see much. There was a strange glow, just outside of her vision. A light that rippled with colours… Had a guard made one of the Majesdanians angry? They rarely came down here at all, now. The guard must have done something particularly bad…

The light got brighter, and Xavin stepped back, hurriedly covering her eyes, which were already stinging. She heard a muffled ‘ooof!’ Then a whispered ‘Sorry!’ And the jingling of keys.

Her door began to open.

She panicked. Her door opening never meant anything good. She curled up into a corner, tucking her head ünder her arms, and waited. No blows came, though. Instead, she heard a quiet gasp, and the same whispering voice from before.

"…K?"

Xavin risked a peek at the newcomer, and then dropped her arms in shock. For a moment, just a moment, she thought it was Karolina. But no, this girl had long blonde hair and the same build, almost, but this looked like a genuine earthling, even with the glow. What was a human doing here?

The strange human took a step forward, and Xavin flinched involuntarily. That made her stop.

"I… I’m sorry. Xavin, right? Hi, I’m Julie! Or Lightspeed… Anyway, I’m here to rescue you. But we’ve got to go now!"

Xavin doesn’t know how they got outside. She was pretty sure she was unconscious for at least half of it. She remembers stumbling through dimly lit halls, hanging off the human’s shoulder. She remembers a space ship appearing out of thin air, some of the best cloaking she’s seen. She remembers getting pushed on board, guards running towards them. She reaches deep inside, reawakening powers she barely remembers, and throws up a force field.

It does the trick, although she doesn’t know that. The effort exhausts her, and she collapses on the bridge of the ship.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the last thing I'm moving over from my tumblr, I promise.


End file.
